At one point we were pinging the ball around in front of their back line and they had SEVEN players in their defense versus just Defoe forlornly trying to wriggle some space here and there. Seriously, when you're up against a team who puts all four of their original back-line in central defense, then puts the wingers in the full-back positions, and then drops a defensive midfielder into the aforementioned four-man central defense just to shore it up some more....you're going to struggle, no matter who you are.
Credit to them, though, they created a plan and are sticking to it. Force us down the wings, force us to deliver crosses into the area, and we'll struggle. We don't have natural height: they know this, and have set up in a way that only allows us an attempt to use said height to score.
And I wonder if Joe Cole's 'oh no, anyone but Defoe' comments influenced AVB's selection somewhat. As a result, we have a tiny man in the box trying to win headers against seven hulking West Ham destroyers. Hard to imagine that this wasn't what Big Sam wanted all along.
We have options on the bench. I hope AVB uses them this week. We don't have natural width on the left side, so putting left-footed Lamela there would give us a bit. And Soldado would add some much-needed height.
But, on a more heartening note, we've looked assured despite West Ham's attempts to suffocate the game. We've often been just one misplaced pass away from breaking through, so their game plan isn't as complete as the commentators would have you believe. Still, it's working at the moment, and it's up to us to change it.
